I wish I had looked after my teeth

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How are your teeth? How often do you go to the dentist? Here is part of a poem by Pam Ayres. Oh, I wish I’d looked after my teeth,And spotted the perils beneath,All the toffees I chewed,And the sweet sticky food,Oh, I wish I’d looked after my teeth. Look at the first line of the poem. “Oh, I wish I had looked after my teeth.” It is a wish about the past. When she was younger, Pam Ayres says, she did not look after her teeth. She ate too many sweets and did not brush her teeth properly. Now her dentist says she has to have 3 fillings.She wishes that she had looked after her teeth. Here are some more wishes about the past. When I was at school, I didn’t work very hard. Now I wish that I had worked harder. The train is an hour late. I wish I had brought a book to read. George was at a really good party last night. I wish I had gone with him George has a headache this morning. He wishes that he had not drunk so much at the party.

And here are two more examples using a different expression “if only…” Joanne’s Mum refuses to speak to Kevin. If only he had remembered her birthday. My brother crashed his new car into a tree. If only he had not been driving so fast.

There is a grammar and vocabulary note with this podcast. If you are listening using iTunes or an iPod, you will need to go to the podcast website to read it.

There are two common ways of expressing a wish about the past. We can say “I wish that. .” (or “you wish that…” etc). Or we can say “If only…” There are examples of both of these in the podcast. Look at the tense of the verb – I wish I had looked after my teeth. When we express a wish about the past, we have to use the had form of the verb. Some teachers will tell you that this is called the subjunctive form of the verb. And so it is. But you want to learn to speak English, not to learn words like “subjunctive”. The best plan is to find 4 or 5 sentences starting with “I wish that. .” or “If only…” and learn them by heart. Then you will know instinctively how to express a wish about the past.